Pipeline Restart Loop: Yield Stress

Pipeline Restart Loop

Deposition of complex and heavy organic compounds in crude and heavy oil can cause a number of severe problems up to pipeline blocking. This new instrument provides the ability to develop and test inhibiting chemicals.

The new Pipeline Restart Loop is suitable to perform a variety of pipeline restart tests:

Pipeline blocking simulation with exchangeable test pipelines

Yield stress tests (yield strength measurements)

Flow improver / deposition inhibitor testing

The exchangeable test pipeline is filled with the sample and cooled down to a set temperature. The cooling rate is programmable (temperature profiles).

After cooling, the pump starts to press the sample through the pipeline at very low flow rates. The increasing pressure is measured at high sample rates. The pressure/time curve shows the yield break at its maximum. Measurements with untreated samples can be compared to measurements with treated samples to show the chemical's effectiveness.

Pipeline Restart Test: Heavy Crude

The especially designed high-accurate pump system provides an absolutely pulsation-free flow, with maximum pressure starting at zero flow rate. So, very realistic shear and flow regimes inside the test pipeline are possible.

The exchangeable test pipelines can have a length up to 20 m at OD 1/4", even onger at smaller diameters.